From Success to Significance

Columnist Dov Seidman explains how significance should power 21st-century business leadership

By Dov Seidman

In the era of inspirational leadership, competitive advantage is being derived not only from pragmatic values such as quality, but also from humanistic, social, and environmental values such as integrity, transparency, sustainability, and trust. In my previous column, I explained how inspiration has emerged as the most important leadership habit (BusinessWeek.com, 8/5/08). In this column, I want to show how the source of 21st-century leadership—and the inspiration that fuels it—has shifted from success to significance, as viewed through the prism of "should."

One of the most powerful applications of "should" recorded in business exists in a 1942 document authored by Robert Wood Johnson, the son of the founder of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). General Johnson, as he was called after his World War II service, wrote a one-page document that came to be known as the Johnson & Johnson "Credo."

The document codifies the company's socially responsible approach to conducting business. It states that the company's first responsibility is to the people who use its products and services; the second responsibility is to its employees; the third is to the community and environment; and the fourth is to the stockholders. In concluding the Credo, General Johnson emphasized his belief that if the first three responsibilities are met, the subject of the fourth—the shareholders—should be well served.

More "Should," Less "Could"

To thrive today, individuals and organizations need to operate more in the language of "should" and less in the language of "could." Asking "What can we do?" encourages decisions and actions that are guided by rules. But there is little in rules that inspire. Rules are to be complied with, and they tend to breed a culture in which people find ways to live with the rules or to circumvent them.

Asking "What should we do?" is entirely different. This question encourages decisions and actions that are consistent with individual and organizational values. Should transcends rules and inspires individuals to do more than merely comply. Yet, should inspires us to comply with the rules because doing so is consistent with our values. In this way, should does double-duty: The mindset inspires us to do more than merely follow the rules while preventing us from doing any less than complying with the rules. Why? Because to betray the rules is to betray our own values.

A should mindset qualifies as a competitive advantage in the 21st century for two reasons.

First, organizations and individuals are judged as much by the process of how they behave as by the result their behaviors deliver. This is the case thanks to hypertransparency: People can see deeper into the inner workings of companies and organizations. And because they can see deeper, they care about the materials, ingredients, and the process through which products and services are created. Second, business craves creativity and innovation, and should thinking frees us from the constraints of rules-based thought by unleashing new pathways of exploration and possibility.

The Beyond Movement

The language of should certainly has served Johnson & Johnson well. The company's Credo has become a cornerstone of the company's culture, not because it's framed on the wall of every office, but because it remains present in day-to-day discussions and decision-making at every level of the company. When a Johnson & Johnson employee says, "That's a Credo issue," the previous conversation stops and the discussion immediately focuses on the "shoulds" of the issue. The employees resolve the Credo issue before resuming their original debates.

Leading organizations and executives understand the importance of fostering that perspective in their employees.